When Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, he inherited a tourism sector that, despite India’s vast cultural riches, was a minor player in global tourism markets. More significantly, he inherited a strategic vulnerability: India’s extraordinary civilisational heritage, spirituality, architectural splendour, and philosophical traditions remained largely underutilised.

Tourism had always been a minor economic sector, occasionally promoted but rarely considered a tool of statecraft. Over the past decade, Modi has changed that.

He transformed tourism into a deliberate instrument through which India could project power, attract capital, deepen relationships with rivals and allies alike, and reshape how the world understood India’s place in the global order. The result is a tourism apparatus that serves as an economic engine, a heritage preservation mechanism, and sophisticated machinery for civilisational assertion.

The results are measurable.

India welcomed 9.95 million foreign tourists in 2024, up from 6.44 million in 2022. Foreign exchange earnings from tourism reached $35.016 billion in 2024, nearly triple the $12.136 billion of 2021. By September 2025, India’s tourism sector had contributed Rs 51,532 crore in foreign exchange earnings.

The sector now ranks eighth globally in tourism economy value and accounts for 5.22 per cent of India’s GDP, a significant transformation from near invisibility a decade ago. By 2023, India ranked sixth globally in Travel & Tourism’s GDP contribution and fourteenth in international tourism receipts, reflecting increased arrivals and higher-value spending.

Every empire understands that power begins with infrastructure. Modi’s first move revealed strategic thinking far more sophisticated than typical tourism promotion: he removed the barriers that had long........

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